Winter storms boost Central Valley water supplies, aquifer levels remain depleted

Winter storms boost Central Valley water supplies, but aquifer levels remain depleted

The historic winter storms that filled California’s reservoirs and covered the Sierra Nevada with snow have brought a major boost to water supplies across Central Valley watersheds — an increase that measurements from NASA satellites show is the largest year-over-year gain in more than two decades of records. Satellite data analyzed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers show that the series of atmospheric river storms this winter alleviated some of California’s water deficit, but groundwater levels remain depleted from years of drought and chronic overpumping in the Central Valley.